Speech #960293036

We have the power to legislate this problem. Now. let me focus on the 14th amendment. which the gentleman referred to. The 14th amendment was adopted in about 1868. and it said. count all persons. but what the gentleman did not mention to this body is the following phrase. when the Founding Fathers said. "excluding nontaxpaying Indians." We did not have an immigration policy when the 14th amendment was adopted. We were welcoming every Immigrant to these shores as the Nation continued to grow and expand. The Founding Fathers never thought of an illegal alien. They were themselves aliens in this new nation that was being carved out. When they wrote that amendment. 100 years of history elapsed before we ever adopted or even looked at the question of limiting entry into the United States of America. So let me say to this body that In my judgment. having looked at the legal precedents. having had the Library of Congress research the problem. we do not need a constitutional amendment to solve this problem. We could simply say to the Census Bureau. "You may not count illegal aliens." Instead of that. the gentlemans comment has not done that. They have given the broadest possible grant to power to the Census Bureau that I must say I have seen in the 18 years I have been here. They have given a billion dollars in taxpayer money to conduct a census.